Schule
by Alex Damien
Summary: Highschool AU. Prussia is sent to W Academy in Japan as punishment for something he did in Germany. Slice of life. PruAus, Spamano, Gerita.
1. Chapter 1

Their parents sent Gilbert to the academy first, immediately after they finished the paperwork with the police, but let Ludwig have enough time to say goodbye to his friends.

Or he would have, if he'd had any. They were all Gilbert's friends, and Ludwig just hung around in the back sometimes. Watching silently, until that time…

-Don't do anything dumb- he'd whispered when he hugged Ludwig last time, and his little brother had almost cried. –Everything will be fine-

Gilbert laid back on the plane seat and looked at the clouds outside the window. As they parted he saw land at last. Who knew Japan was so far from Germany? Too many hours of flight for Gilbert to spend sitting still. He couldn't wait until he landed. Apparently his sort-of-cousin would be picking him up. He was from some far branch of the family that lived in Austria. Either way, he just hoped his parents hadn't told him anything about the incident.

The really nice Japanese stewardress walked by, reminding everyone to please put their tables back up and everything away.

Gilbert sighed. His parents had even taken his phone away, so that all he had on his backpack was underwear and a second change of clothes. Ludwig had slipped him his old black cross when they said good bye to each other at the airport though, so that was all he needed to start again.

He crossed the entrance and saw a boy of roughly his own age standing with a sign that had Gilbert's full name written in perfect calligraphy.

"Hey, you must be Roderich," he said, grinning. Roderich just looked down at him.

"Gilbert. I have been informed of the circumstances that required your transfer to W Academy," he said, in the most stuck up tone Gilbert had ever heard. So much for having a fresh start.

"Ja, whatever. Can we go now? I'm sick of airports and planes and that shit."

Roderich narrowed his eyes at Gilbert's language, and gave him the sign with his name. Gilbert saw it was indeed handwritten.

"Follow me. We'll take a cab to the school. I've already arranged for you to stay in my dorm room, as your parents requested.

"Great, so I'm stuck with you?"

"Your parents specially asked me to arrange for you to stay at my room, so if you wish to complain I'd recommend doing so with them."

"Nah, they're pretending I don't exist so I don't think that'd go very well. Hmph, I suppose staying with family is better since I don't know any japanese, eh? We're like, cousins right?"

"Political family. And you need not worry about the language. All the classes are taught in English, which I've been told you have no problem with."

"What else do you know about me? Weight? Favorite sleeping position? Because before yesterday I didn't even know you existed."

Roderich turned around to glare at him. "I've been told enough to take the necessary precautions so that you can stop shaming your family."

Gilbert growled and grabbed him by the lapels of his stupid blue coat. "You little-"

"Ah, I was told this might happen," said Roderich with a deadpan expression, but Gilbert could see the barely contained rage and disgust in his eyes.

Gilbert realized what he was doing and let him go. "Can we just…stop being assholes to each other? I'm really tired."

Roderich huffed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. But the silently burning anger was gone from his eyes.

They took a cab to the academy. Classes had started the week before, but they were making an exception for him and his brother, who would be arriving a couple days later. Gilbert's mood brightened when Roderich told him this. He had expected to spend at least a week by himself.

"It was difficult, but I managed to convince the principal to let him stay in the closed off room of the fourth floor in the west building," was saying Roderich when they entered through the great gates of the academy. Gilbert hadn't expected it to be so big. "We'll have to clean it up, since it hasn't been opened for over a year."

"Perfect, I'll do it!" said Gilbert. Roderich stared at him.

"I expected you to put up a fight about it."

"Of course not! I wouldn't want my little brother to have to stay in some disgusting, moldy room. I'll clean it. I'll clean it perfectly until it's the best room in the academy! Kesesese!"

Their room was on the east building, in the third floor. Inside, half of it was perfectly furnished with a very classic style, while the other half had only one bed with two boys uniforms on it and a simple dresser next to it.

"When will your parents be sending yours and your brother's things?" asked Roderich. Gilbert opened the drawer in the dresser and found nothing inside. He slammed it close. Great.

"Are you deaf or what?"

"Excuse me?"

"I told you, I don't exist for them. They're not sending me shit."

He opened his backpack and started to put his few clothes in the dresser.

"…I thought you were exaggerating."

Gilbert paused. If he thought that, then his parents must not have told him the full story. That at least gave him some peace of mind. He shrugged.

"It's not like I care. I'm fine by myself."

He finished putting everything in its place and sat on the bed. Roderich watched him from the other side of the room with a look that Gilbert couldn't understand.

"What? Now you're pitying me?!"

"No," said Roderich, and looked away. "I merely didn't expect you to be this neat and tidy."

Gilbert smirked. "Ha! I'm far more amazing than you would ever expect!"

"Now that's going a bit too far. Here, this is your class schedule. We have to go pick your books so you can start classes tomorrow. You have already missed a lot and will have to work hard to catch up," said Roderich. Gilbert put the schedule on the dresser and followed him out the room. "You will find that the level at W Academy is far higher than in Germany."

"That'll be no problem. I'm a genius."

"And so very humble, right?"

Gilbert hit him softly on the shoulder. "Considering how awesome and amazing I am, I'm very humble."

Roderich sighed.

They crossed the campus to get to the library and found a sad Spanish boy at the counter checking out books at a speed that was despairing to watch. He would take one book, check the title, enter it manually on the computer and slooowly stamp it. Roderich grabbed Gilbert's arm.

"Ugh, they put Antonio in library duty. He must have done something to piss off Arthur. Maybe we should come back later to pick up your books."

There were at least five people in line, and more kept coming, but the Spanish boy seemed unconcerned and kept his slow pace.

"Are you serious? Someone should tell him to hurry the hell up!"

"No, don't mess with Antonio. He may look simple minded, but he's also trouble, and I should remind you that trouble is the last thing you want."

"Fine. Look, I'll go stand in line and wait and I'll meet you at the room, alright?"

"Do you even remember how to get there?"

"Of course I do! I told you, I'm a genius!"

"Hey! You guys there!" shouted Antonio loud enough for everyone in the two story library to hear him. "Keep quiet in the library!"

Everybody in line groaned.

"Is this guy an idiot or what?" muttered Gilbert.

"I've known him for two years and I'm still not sure."

Gilbert went to stand in line and Roderich followed him. "You don't have to stay with me." Roderich was about to say something when a girl approached them. She had long brown hair with flowers in it, and Roderich's eyes softened at the sight of her. Gilbert suddenly felt very alone.

"Hi Rod, is this your cousin that you were going to go pick up at the airport?"

"Yes. Elizabeta, this is Gilbert. Gilbert, this is Elizabeta, a classmate."

She smiled at him, but Gilbert just growled an angry hello and looked away towards the line. An Italian looking boy had cut in line.

"Hey! Wait a second! He's cutting in line!" he yelled. Behind him, Roderich groaned. Gilbert stomped to the counter. "Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Please keep quiet in the library," he said tiredly. "I'll check out all your books so don't worry."

"No, I'm sick of waiting," he said, and jumped over the counter.

"¡Que joder tío! (What the hell dude!) What are you doing?!"

"Isn't there some code scanner or something around here?" Gilbert rummaged under the counter.

"It's broken, see?" said Antonio, holding up an unplugged scanner and trying to make it work. Gilbert concentrated all his rage in a single glare and took the scanner from him.

"Arschloch! You have to plug it in the computer!" he pushed Antonio away and set to check out books as fast as he could. In just a few minutes he was done with the whole queue. "Now, give me my books."

"Uh? Ah! You must be the new guy!" Antonio smiled brightly and gave him a sealed package with his books inside. "Thank you! I'm not good with computers, and I'm alone here, so there was no one to ask about it."

"That was surprising," said Elizabeta. Next to her, Roderich stood silently, but Gilbert could see in his eyes that he was impressed. "I thought you were going to start a fight, but you solved everything so fast!"

Gilbert grinned. "Of course I did. I'm awesome!"

Antonio hugged him. "Please, stay with me until I close! I hate having library duty alone. I always finish very late because I have to do all the work! Please, please, just help me put the books away!"

Gilbert sighed. "Fine, I'll help you," he gave the package to Roderich. "I'll see you at the room once we close."

"Alright, but do try to stay out of trouble."

They left together, and Gilbert felt annoyed at seeing them leave like that. How dared Roderich interrupt his perfect loneliness and then leave like that with some girl? Gilbert gritted his teeth, annoyed at his own senseless thoughts.

"Thank you, thank you," chanted Antonio, picking up books. "I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, but you can call me Toño, hehe."

"Tonyo?" tried Gilbert. Antonio laughed.

"Tony's fine too."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm Gilbert Beildschmidt"

"Jilberrt Beldsshimt?"

"Gil. Just call me Gil."

"¡Fantástico!"

Antonio showed him the most important parts of the library and quickly told him how it was organized and then went back to the counter. Long windows let in the light of the setting sun while Gilbert put everything in its place, and he suddenly found himself very tired. Even though he had slept a little in the plane, he had still been awake for over 16 hours and he started to regret agreeing to help the ditzy Spanish.

He yawned and then looked at the small pile of books he had left. Just a little more and he could go to sleep.

He heard voices from the first floor and looked over the rail to the counter, where some blonde guy with ugly eyebrows was arguing with Antonio. He couldn't hear what they said clearly, but the tones sounded too aggressive. He left the books on a table and ran down the stairs, but by the time he reached the counter, the blonde guy was gone.

"What was that?" he asked. Antonio's shoulders shook with barely controlled fury.

"That bastard Arthur, he says he's closing down my gardening club! He says someone with such a bad conduct record like me can't be president of a club and that the other members have left," he kicked a chair. "I bet he scared them away! He's been wanting to close my club since he became president of the student council!"

"Sounds like an asshole," said Gilbert, unsure of what to do now. Antonio looked like a completely different person. His eyes looked cruel and cold, completely unlike the ditzy guy who had hugged him and begged him to stay just a few hours before.

"That's it! I'm sick of him!" he came out of the counter and stalked towards the door. "¡Malnacido, voy a partirle toda la cara! (Son of a bitch, I'm going to break his face!)"

Gilbert knew roughly zero Spanish, but he knew when someone was going to break someone's face, so he stood in front of Antonio and stopped him.

"Wait! No! I don't know what your problem is with that guy, but this is what he wants."

"What?"

"Don't you see? He wants you to snap and go after him. Why else would he come here to taunt you? Don't give him what he wants."

Antonio seemed to consider this. "B-but what will I do now? I can't be president of the club, and with no members it's all over," the anger was overcome by sadness, and Antonio started crying. "I just wanted to grow tomatoes for Lovino! Now he won't be able to cook stuff from his house," he sobbed and hugged Gilbert, who was so stunned by how strong Antonio was, he didn't even resist. "He'll pretend to be angry, but I know he'll be sad and I can't stand that!"

Gilbert tried to pull away, but the suffocating embrace was too much for his sleep deprived body.

"Aw, mon ami, leave that poor boy alone," said some guy behind Gilbert. Antonio let go of him.

"Francis! Arthur closed my club!"

"I know, I know. That's why I came here to see how you were doing."

"This is awful! What am I going to do?"

"For now, not go after Arthur. He's just looking for a reason to have you expelled."

Antonio sniffled. "Si, Gil told me about that."

The French guy looked at Gilbert, who waved weakly at him. "Ah, you must be the new guy. I heard about you from Roderich. I'm Francis. Mon dieu, you look like you're about to faint. Non non, that's enough for today. Let's close up here and leave," Francis hugged him. "We'll think about what to do in the morning."

They walked him to the entrance of the East dorms and Gilbert stumbled the rest of the way up. He opened the door to his room and found Roderich reading at his desk, already dressed to go to bed.

"I expected you to get back much later," said Roderich.

"We didn't finish putting everything away. Some guy named Arthur closed Antonio's gardening club and I had to stop him from going after him," said Gilbert, taking off his shirt and folding it carefully. Roderich sat up straight.

"Arthur closed the gardening club? I knew he was planning something, but that's extreme!"

Gilbert shrugged and took off his pants, folding them too then putting everything in the lowest drawer of the dresser next to his bed. He pulled out the covers of the bed and Roderich stood up.

"You don't have any night clothes?" he asked, and Gilbert wasn't sure if he had actually asked him a question because by the time his sleep deprived brain had finished processing the question, Roderich was back with a black silk pajama for him.

"Uh, dun need it."

"Just take it already," and Roderich pushed the clothes into his hands. Too tired to argue, Gilbert sighed and put on the clothes. He was used to wearing stiff ironed pajamas, so the soft slippery feeling of the material against his skin made him feel strange. He didn't dwell on it too much, since the moment his head touched the pillow, he sank into a deep sleep full of blackness and nothingness.

He had one small dream though, just before waking.

His little brother was smiling, and that was enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Roderich went back to his own bed and picked up his book.

"You should probably not get too close with Antonio though, he and Francis are-" he looked at the other bed and found Gilbert had fallen asleep immediately. His features seemed to soften while asleep, but there was still a feeling of harshness about him.

Roderich sighed and looked at the night sky on the window beside his bed. He was looking forth to another long night of insomnia, but knowing there was someone else in the room made it a little bit better.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Roderich dropped a glass of water on Gilbert's face.

Gilbert sat up sputtering and coughing.

"What the fuck?!" he growled and grabbed at Roderich's neck. "Asshole, you're so lucky we're related."

Roderich hit him in the face with the glass, and Gilbert let him go.

"You're late," said Roderich, straightening his white shirt. "I tried shaking you but you looked like you were in a coma."

"Ugh, changing time zones is a bitch," said Gilbert. "I'm taking a shower."

"But it's late! Just get dressed, we have ten minutes to get to class."

"I'll be ready in five," called Gilbert from the bathroom.

"Are you serious? Fine, do whatever you want. The classroom is at the building left from the entrance. I'm leaving."

"You do that little master."

Roderich slammed the door when he left. Three minutes later Gilbert came out of the shower, got dressed in two minutes more, was at the classroom building in three, and caught up with Roderich with a full minute to spare.

"There you are little master!" he said, and slapped Roderich's ass on the way inside the classroom.

"Stop that!"

"Kesesese! Calm down!" Gilbert waved him off and entered the classroom. At the back, a head of disheveled brown hair caught his attention. Antonio was chatting with some smiling plump blond boy, and Gilbert walked to the empty place next to him.

"Hey, Antonio!" he called, and set down his backpack on the desk, making the boy who had been sitting there jump. Gilbert hadn't seen him for some reason. "Oh, hey, sorry ´bout-"

Antonio stood up and grabbed the boy's shoulders. "Ah, Matthieu! Could you please let Gil sit here? Please, please, please!"

The boy blushed and looked down. "Uhm, yes, yes, of course. I'll just…go over there…," he said and got up to sit in an empty seat at the corner. Gilbert noticed he had a tiny write bear charm hanging from his book bag. He thought it was cute in a way.

"I'm so happy we're in the same class, Gil!" said Antonio, and Gilbert sat down. "I don't have many friends in classes. Let's be best friends!"

Gilbert blinked at the straightforward demand, and it took him a moment to smile back. "Yeah, sure, why the hell not?" he said. He had never had a best friend, other than his brother.

When he looked to the front he caught Roderich looking at them with wary eyes, and Gil remembered how he had told him that Antonio was trouble.

But then, people had always said that about him.

The first two classes passed slowly. Antonio fell asleep in the second one, but Gilbert hit him with a rubber band to wake him before the teacher saw him. The look that Antonio gave him spelled cold murder, but Gilbert answered with an equally harsh glare.

It was the most fun he'd had in years.

When the bell for lunch rang, Francis appeared at their classroom and waved for them to come out with him. Antonio and Gilbert picked up their things and followed him.

"I have great news, my dears," he said, tossing his hair away from his face. A group of girls passing giggled and he winked at them.

"Hey, get going. Flirt later," said Gilbert. Antonio snickered.

"Fine, fine. I checked the school rules and kindly pointed to Arthur that you still can be president of the gardening club. You need four bad points in your record to lose the chance to be president at any school club, and you only have three. So, it was a good thing you didn't go after Arthur yesterday. He would have had you completely then."

Antonio's eyes brightened, and he hugged Francis. "Yes! Yes! It's not all lost! ¡Gracias Fracis! (Thank you Francis!)"

"Don't get too happy yet, Antonio," said Francis, pushing Antonio away and becoming too serious all of a sudden. "Arthur wasn't lying when he said all the members of the club had left. They did. You're the only one in the club now, and if you don't get at least 3 people in by Friday, it's over."

"¡Ah, joder! (Ah fuck!) I can't believe this! Francis, you have to sign up with me!"

"Already did, but don't expect me to actually do anything. It's just a formality to help you now."

"Thaaaank youuuu!" he turned to Gilbert. "Gil! You have to sign up with me too!"

"What? But I know fuck all about gardening!"

"It doesn't matter! I'll do all the work, don't worry about it."

"Hmmm…, fine. But I want something in exchange."

"Anything!"


	4. Chapter 4

That afternoon the three of them opened the room at the top floor of the west building. A mouse scurried in front of them while Gil felt around for the light switch.

"That mouse's got to go," muttered Gil. He looked in disgust at the spider webs all around the ceiling and the thick layer of dust covering everything.

"We've got to go," said Francis, not wanting to even take a single step into the room.

Gilbert had asked for help to clean the room just to ask for something and not seem like he'd do anything Antonio would ask for, but now he realized what a good idea it had been.

"No way. My little brother's arriving tomorrow, so this place has to be sparkling today!" he gave each of the other ones a mop and entered the room.

They found the mouse easily, and put it in a small box with holes for the time being, because it was too cute, and they realized that they didn't have it in their hearts to do anything too mean to it.

Francis named it Coco, and Antonio gave it a small piece of cheese he found in one of his pockets. Gilbert huffed and demanded they get back to work.

Francis opened the window to let the air in and set to cleaning all the surfaces. Antonio moped the floor, and Gilbert tried to fix the broken closet door that hung awkwardly from its hinges.

"Isn't there a better room? This place sucks. I don't want my little brother to have to live here alone in some abandoned room," said Prussia. He pushed at the closet door and set it in place.

"I'm sorry dear, but all the other ones are taken. You two were not expected, so finding accommodations has been a challenge. But, may I ask, why the sudden transfer here?"

"Meh, just…,some trouble at our last school. Our parents…," said Prussia, trying to find a way to not say anything too incrimitatory for him or his brother. Suddenly Antonio got up and crossed the room in just a few strides to get to Francis and hit him in the head. "What the hell?!"

"Don't ask him stuff like that! You know I hate it when you're manipulative like that. Geez, you're becoming too much like Arthur!" said Antonio to Francis, then he looked at Gilbert. "Don't mind it Gil. He's secretary of the school council. Whatever your parents told the school, he knows it."

Gilbert glared at Francis. "Fucker."

"Now, now," said Francis, holding up his hands. "I just wanted to hear it from you. I thought I'd hear things from your point of view. But you don't have to tell me anything. I'll just tell you that all the teachers have been instructed to keep an eye on you and to be more strict than usual with discipline. Hall monitors might give you a hard time too, since Arthur told them all to stop you for any infraction to the discipline code, no matter how small."

"Sheisse," muttered Gilbert, slinking to the floor against the closet door. "So, no new start at all, uh?"

Antonio sat down next to him and patted his head. "Don't feel down Gil! Nobody else knows anything about whatever happened before! I have no idea!"

Francis sat down in front of them with a serene smile. "You don't have any idea about anything most of the time, you dork!" he said and laughed. Antonio pouted.

Gilbert realized he really liked their company. Like that, not saying anything meaningful, and yet understanding everything. He smiled.

"Well, whatever. I was an asshole, did some bad stuff and I'm paying my time here. My little brother's arriving tomorrow and we have to make sure this shitty place is good enough for him. Now let's get going!"

He hurried them and in little more than an hour they had cleaned the place completely. They called the janitor to fix the bathroom and make sure there was hot water in the shower. Then Francis got some nice roses and a vase to decorate the dresser, and a small carpet to put in the center of the room. It looked much better than Gilbert's own half of the room with Roderich had, which made him feel better about the whole thing.

It was dark when they closed the door to Gilbert's brother's room and left for their own.

"I'll be signing you up for the gardening club," said Francis, rolling the keys in his index finger. "But remember Antonio, you still need two more people by this Friday."

"I'll find someone!" said Antonio, smiling.

"Maybe Lovino would like to-"

"No. Please don't tell any of this to him! I don't want him to worry."

Francis sighed. "Fine, but he'll probably find out on his own."

Gilbert scratched his head. He was covered in dust. "Who is this Lovino? You mentioned him yesterday."

Antonio blushed and looked down. "W-well, Lovino is this guy. We were neighbors for a while when we were kids and I ran into him here. Could you believe that? It's like, destiny!"

"So you like him?"

"Eeeh? Well, I…hmmm…."

"You do."

Antonio looked away, and Gilbert knew he didn't just like him. He was in love with him. The thought made him smile even more.


	5. Chapter 5

They separated outside the dorms and Gilbert headed straight to his own. He found Roderich already at his bed, reading something.

"Where have you been all day?" he asked, and slammed the book closed. Gilbert smirked.

"Cleaning the room for Ludwig."

"Yeah, sure. I saw you leave with Antonio and Francis."

"Because we were cleaning together. Also, I'm on the gardening club with Antonio now," Gilbert took off his shirt and put it in a corner. No way was he putting it with the rest of his clothes, and luckily he had another pair of uniform pants, because the ones he wore were gray with dust.

"But didn't Arthur close that club?"

"Francis found that Antonio hadn't had enough offenses or whatever to be kicked out. But he needs more members. You feel like joining us in the garden princess?"He opened the dresser to put his cross and found two more white shirts than he'd had that morning. The black silk pajama was folded not very neatly under them.

Roderich huffed, pointedly not looking at him. "I don't think so. I'm not fond of playing with dirt and plants."

"Dude, what's this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Gilbert took out the shirts. One of them had some weird ruffles at the collar. "Look, I…it's nice and all that you want to help me but…"

"Help? I am merely following orders. I was told to ensure you uphold a well behaved image, and it is impossible to do so with only two shirts."

Gilbert threw the shirts back on the drawer. Well, that explained it. He felt like an idiot for thinking Roderich was pitying him.

"I see. I'm gonna take a shower now. You go to sleep now like the good little master you are, asshole."

He entered the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

Roderich remained in bed. He looked down to the book in his hands, and caressed the pages. It had been stupid of him to think that Gilbert would appreciate his help, but he had not expected this jump between emotions from him. Ashamed at needing help, and then rage at Roderich having to provide it. But of course, his own attempt at saving his own pride by pretending that Gilbert's parents had asked him to help only made things worse.

Roderich turned the page. He had long since ceased to make sense of the ideas in the book, and now saw only senseless words. He had gone to sleep at 2a.m. the night before, catching around three hours of sleep more than usual. But it had only left him more tired and irritable.

Gilbert came out of the shower in only his underwear, toweling his hair.

"Why are you naked?!" yelled Roderich.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not naked," he pointed at his blue boxers with tiny white birds printed on them.

"Put on a pajama."

"Nuhuh. Don't think so. I don't need to uphold a well behaved image in here, do I?" he folded the towel and left it on top of the dresser. Roderich noticed how well defined the muscles in his back were as then moved when he passed a hand through his hair, looking at himself in the mirror. When he turned around, Roderich buried his nose in the book.

Gilbert took his cross back from the dresser and put it on. "Don't glare at me like that, princess," he said, and winked at Roderich with a mischievous smirk. "We'll keep my bad behavior between us, alright?"

"Idiot."

Gilbert laughed, and went to bed.

Roderich stayed in his own bed, caressing his book. The words he saw on the page slowly lost sense until all he could see was letters standing together. He was alone with his thoughts, and the darkness.

And Gilbert's breathing.

He looked over to his side of the room and saw he was fast asleep. He wondered if it was some lingering jet lag that allowed him to fall asleep so fast. Because how could someone who had beaten a man so badly fall asleep like that? Gilbert's conscience must be completely absent if it didn't whisper at him at night.

Like Roderich's did.

He sighed deeply, and focused on the sounds of Gilbert's breathing. Steady and soft. In and out.

Looking at Gilbert's back rising and falling rhythmically, Roderich felt mesmerized. His mind followed the rhythm of each breath, while his eyes traced the shadows projected by the lamp light from his side if the room.

His eyelids felt heavy.

Before he knew it, Roderich had slipped into a dream where he traced every curve and every shadow with the tip of his fingers, feeling the pale skin shivering under every touch.


End file.
